The 9th Asian Academy Creative Awards (AACA) has revealed a massive 335 National Winners from 18 countries and territories in Asia Pacific and across 39 categories in film, TV and digital content.
Honouring creative achievements from across the region, AACA operates a two-round judging system, with National Winners first selected to represent their respective nations and territories before progressing to the International Round, where the grand winners are determined by an international jury of industry figures. This year’s gala awards take place on December 3 at the historic Capitol Theatre in Singapore.
Today’s announcement was launched by AACA chairperson Beverley McGarvey, president of Network 10 and head of streaming at Paramount Australia and New Zealand.
The best feature film category comprised nine National Winners, including Indian biographical sports drama Bison Kaalamaadan, Indonesia’s Sundance competitor Levitating and Singapore’s Annecy-winning animation The Violinist. Also named were mainland Chinese box office hit The Shadow’s Edge by Yang Zi, Malaysian horror film Forbidden Night by Norhanisham bin Muhammad and Myanmar musical film Eain Mat Kar Yan by Win Lwin Htet.
The latter three films are also among six National Winners in the running for best direction (feature film), a new category launched this year.
Forbidden Night (aka Malam Terlarang) received the most nods for a feature film in four categories. The best direction (feature film) nod for Norhanisham is a posthumous one as the Malay director passed away in May. It is followed by The Violinist and Levitating (aka Para Perasuk) with three nods apiece, which included best animation and best screenplay, and best actor for Angga Aldi Yunanda and best actress for Anggun Cipta Sasmi respectively.
“Each year these awards remind us just how much talent, ambition and originality exists in our region,” said chairperson McGarvey. “Our stories are becoming more confident, more distinctive and more influential, not only in their home markets but with audiences all around the world”.
McGarvey noted entries were on par with last year and the large number of National Winners has created the largest showcase of Asia Pacific content in the world. Jurors from 38 countries took part this year.
Further National Winners include mainland Chinese drama series The Lead, which received nods in six categories, including best actress for Liu Haocun; Japanese drama series Song Of Samurai with five nods such as best direction (scripted) for Kazutaka Watanabe; and Malaysian drama series Good Boys Go To Heaven also with five nods such as best drama series and best screenplay.
The company tally was led by Singapore’s Mediacorp (with 23 nods), Prime Video India (19), Astro Malaysia (19) and CNN (15).
AACA 2026 / Select National Winners
Best Feature Film
- Chinese Mainland: The Shadow’s Edge
- India: Bison Kaalamaadan
- Indonesia: Levitating (Para Perasuk)
- Japan: The Wind Phone: From Japan to the World
- Malaysia: Forbidden Night (Malam Terlarang)
- Myanmar: Eain Mat Kar Yan
- Philippines: Kontrabida Academy
- Singapore: The Violinist
- Taiwan: In Gods We Hide
Best Direction (Feature Film)
- Chinese Mainland: Yang Zi - The Shadow‘s Edge
- India: Suresh Triveni – Subedaar
- Malaysia: Norhanisham bin Muhammad - Forbidden Night (Malam Terlarang)
- Myanmar: Win Lwin Htet - Eain Mat Kar Yan
- Philippines: Sigrid Andrea P. Bernardo - I’m Perfect
- Taiwan: Yen Hu and Chao Koi-wang - No One Home
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